Beyond the Clouds by Fr. Jacob Nampudakam, S.A.C. | Page 58

who is in a leadership role: calmness or serenity, especially when faced with
critical situations. A turbulent, panicking mind can lead to disasters for
himself and others. This is all the more true of pilots who only have precious,
little time to make a life or death decision. What we call professionalism in
secular terms, could be considered the depth of faith or trust in spiritual and
psychological language. A display of such calmness and confidence is an
exterior manifestation of trust in the Almighty, trust in others, and definitely
a trust in oneself.
Thanks to psychological studies and personal work on myself, I try to keep
observing my own attitudes and behaviours. The moment I become more
negative, pessimistic and irritated with people and situations, symbolizes that
there is much stress in my life. If I tend to act, relate and decide in that
mental situation, I can hurt many people and make many wrong decisions.
There is nothing as important as silence and prayer in order to harmonize my
fragmented self and spirit. At times, the entire hard drive needs reformatting!
There are so many untold stories of the Captain and those in leadership roles.
Behind every serious decision, there are many hours of reflection and prayer.
Before every good initiative, there are many communications, and moments of
dialogue. Likewise, there may also be many moments of misunderstandings and
hurt feelings caused by those who boast of their ability to speak loudly and
frankly. When some act in a totalitarian manner, it’s hard to digest, and even
harder when they have the presumption that they are always right.
On the contrary, so, too, do people struggle when they are so sensitive that
they fear of hurting someone. Such people suffer all the more, because they
suffer from within. In dealing with human persons, we need to gain a lot of
wisdom and experience. Mutual respect, dialogue, empathy, listening, courage,
trust, are all values required for good leadership. Blessed are those who have
found such a delicate harmony of natural and supernatural values!
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